Building on the Foundations of Interprofessional Education in Toronto - An Agenda for the Future

In 2007, the University of Toronto’s Council of Health Sciences Deans (CHSD) was clear in its mandate to establish mandatory Interprofessional Education (IPE) curricula so that by 2009 all students from the Faculties of Health Sciences (including the Faculties of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physical Education and Health, Social Work and Rehabilitation Sciences) would partake in a curriculum that affords them the opportunity to graduate with IPE competencies.

The approach taken by the University of Toronto was to create a curriculum that was theoretically driven, pedagogically sound, relevant to learners and faculty, and ultimately relevant to the patients and clients served. This competency-based, longitudinal curriculum design would include a mandatory core curriculum, complementary learning activities, simulation experiences, and a 4-week clinical placement where students would learn how to apply the theoretical concepts of collaboration in practice settings.

The goal of this initiative in 2007 was to transform clinical teaching units (CTUs) across the affiliated hospitals of the University of Toronto into interprofessional, collaborative patient-centred practice settings that would provide constructive environments for teaching students at the pre-licensure level, model best practices at the post-licensure level, and evaluate the impact on patients, providers and learners.

(Ministry of Health and Long Term Care)

The Project was a collaborative partnership between the University of Toronto and the Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network (TAHSN) that enabled TAHSN teaching hospitals to become active interprofessional care learning laboratories for future generations of health care providers. It supported the Ontario government’s Health Human Resources Strategy’s broad objective of encouraging health care workers to work collaboratively.

Reports for these initiatives may be downloaded from Tool & Resources - Reports & Brochures section!